NOVEL NEXT Chapter 37: Our family’s Lord is the best~
Just before noon, Ren Xiyang (and those knights who still had delusions of guarding him) arrived at the usual location for the free lunch. The employees who had left earlier were just about finished setting up.
Ren Xiyang heated what should be heated—the main meal—and cooled what should be cooled—the new dessert soup made because Ren Xiyang remembered that it was summer and other people couldn’t regulate the heat around them like he could.
With each passing week, more and more people would come to the free lunch at the outskirts of Redmond town. Rather than two ‘receiving’ stations they had initially, there were now six stations. The lines started moving, the hand-washing procedure now familiar to lunch-goers.
Ren Xiyang’s control was getting even better than it had been during the apocalypse now that he had abundant magic to spare for practice, so he didn’t need to stand boringly in place while keeping things hot or cold.
His gaze swept down the waiting lines, then stopped. There was someone dragging their injured leg, standing in pain while they waited. The bandaging was haphazard, and the leg wasn’t set straight either.
But then, that was not surprising given the rags this particular man wore.
Ren Xiyang started walking over, ignoring the wide eyes from the civilians.
Back in the apocalypse, he had learnt basic first aid—everyone did. Now, with the help of Rian, he had learnt some healing spells for common ailments. After Rian left, Ren Xiyang had tested the spells that healed cuts and bruises on himself.
The injured man soon realised that the Earl was heading straight for him. His eyes widened in anxiety “M—m-m-mm-y Lord!” he spluttered out.
“You didn’t see a doctor or healer for your injury.”
The man hung his head. “No, my Lord.” Was the Earl annoyed to see a disgusting injured person like him?
“I know a spell that will set broken bones,” Ren Xiyang said directly. “The spell works provided the injury occurred within the last few days. There will be some brief pain and it won’t fixed bruising, but the bone will be fixed as it was originally. Given that your leg is still whole, the success rate should be very high. The spell acts only in the local injured site, so there will be no risk of damage to other parts of your body. Do you consent?”
The man gaped, uncomprehending. “I—ah—” He looked to the people waiting in front and behind him in the line, his eyes clearly asking for help at this sudden turn of events.
“If you find magical healing uncomfortable, then I can set the leg to a split and re-bandage appropriately. If not, your leg will heal crookedly and will be a weak point for the rest of your life.”
The man felt a sharp pain at the last sentence. He knew that very well. Once the leg healed poorly, he’d be disabled, and the number of jobs he could take would decrease to nothing, leaving him only to beg like the injured and disabled ex-soldiers.
“My Lord, I can’t afford…”
“It’s free. Do you want the magic spell?”
The man’s jaw tightened. “Y-yes…”
“Okay.” Ren Xiyang held his hand out, pointed down to the man’s leg. That helped him ‘make sense’ of how the ‘nonsensical’ magical spells worked. “Setos.” Colourless magic flowed out of Ren Xiyang’s core, transforming into healing magic which seeped into the man’s leg.
The man flinched as the bone shifted back into its original position and fused back as it was before. He sneaked a look at the Earl, and then gingerly put more weight on the leg. It was still a little painful, but it was so much better already! The man’s eyes turned fervent. “Thank you, my Lord! Thank you, my Lord!”
The other civilians and the Rosewood employees all looked at the young Earl in surprise and awe.
Not only could their Earl fight, but he could also heal! He was amazing and amazingly generous! Which fief had an Earl like this? None, that’s what!
That spell had used a fair amount of magic, since as a fire-magic, Ren Xiyang was naturally inefficient at casting non-fire-type spells. However, with the hot sun, there was ample magical energy to refuel with.
Now that he healed one person, it felt necessary to open the offer up.
Ren Xiyang looked across the lines of people. “If anyone else has minor injuries or common ailments, then I can heal them now, or up until everything is packed up.”
Rather than going down the lines, Ren Xiyang had a knight finally be useful, getting Sir Tielo Russet to carry two chairs to the side near the food stations. One seat for himself, and one for his immediate patient.
A few people near the end of the lines decided to come over, since it didn’t really make much difference in terms of waiting for food.
Cuts, bruises, sprains, and even disinfecting festering wounds, he could do. Ren Xiyang didn’t tell anyone that doing this was good practice for him. It allowed him to analyse and study how the magic mended the injuries—how new flesh and skin formed and pulled together and healed.
Unfortunately, some of those who came to him had diseases he couldn’t diagnose let alone heal. For them, he could only recommend general health-increasing things, and occasionally cast a spell that would reduce symptoms but not fix the underlying cause.
Getting a proper healer and training more doctors was already on his to do list.
Two hours later, lunch wrapped up and Ren Xiyang also finished his line of patients and had his own lunch.
While the majority of the Rosewood employees headed back to the manor with the furniture and empty pots and dishes, Ren Xiyang took Maria and Aaron with him to visit the town mayor.
Earlier that morning, Kel had someone deliver a letter to the mayor and the mayor had agreed to meet on the same day. (After all, the mayor couldn’t deny the Earl.)
The Town Hall was the largest building in Redmond town. The mayor’s office was attached.
“My Lord, welcome again to Redmond town!” Mayor Bailie said, welcoming the Earl and his two servants into the mayor’s office. For anyone else, he would have had the butler pour the tea, but as this was the Earl, Mayor Bailie poured the tea and offered the refreshments himself.
“Thank you. You read my letter, so let’s begin,” Ren Xiyang cut straight to the point.
Mayor Bailie tried not to put on a distasteful expression. “Yes, my Lord.”
“Tell me in detail the current processes of waste disposal in Redmond town.”
Mayor Bailie could speak relatively eloquently. Regardless, he couldn’t hide the key points: that there was no central sewage system, nor central fresh-water delivery system.
In the small villages, they could bury their waste in their abundant land. But right now, in Redmond, waste in town was usually dumped into the cesspits at the edge of town, or into the nearby river that was downstream from the Rosewood estate. The people who worked in collecting and cleaning up waste were among the lowest employed class.
When the Earl frowned, Mayor Bailie’s hands went all sweaty.
“You’re not allowed to dump any waste in the river from now on,” Ren Xiyang said. “That would only breed disease in Redmond and other towns living further downstream. Instead, set up a new fertilisation pit. Send some people over to the Rosewood manor to learn how to safely convert human waste into fertiliser.”
Mayor Bailie quickly nodded. “Yes, my Lord!”
“My wish is for Redmond to have pipes underground. Some that will carry fresh, purified water for everyone to drink. And some that will carry waste away from the town to a suitable processing site,” Ren Xiyang said directly.
Mayor Bailie’s eyes widened. Only the rich cities had those! Because it was really, really expensive.
“However, we’ll first need to identify a water source, or create a large water reservoir. Second, we must plan where the pipes should go underground. I hope Mayor Bailie will cooperate on all this. The Rosewood fief will provide at least half of the funding.”
The stone in Mayor Bailie’s chest became a little lighter when he realised that he didn’t need to finance everything.
They continued talking for the rest of the hour. Ren Xiyang wanted the mayor’s ideas, concerns, and so forth, so that he could better understand some of the things he needed to consider that he wouldn’t have thought up himself.
When Ren Xiyang returned to the Rosewood summer manor, the samples of various fish and seaweed and other sea-foods had arrived from the Aegean fief.
The Rosewood summer manor staff were once again graced with their Lord’s presence in the kitchens.
Because Prince Rian had helped Ren Xiyang order these samples, there weren’t just dried and salted samples, but also fresh samples stored in magically-created ice.
Many of the staff had never seen some of the ingredients, such as the seaweed and the more obscure seafood. Freshwater fish could be caught in the nearby local rivers, but seaweed and seafood were expensive to transport from the seaside fiefs. And the Rosewood family never ate seaweed because that was food for the poor in those seaside fiefs.
Ren Xiyang directed Mrs. Cooks and the others to make a variety of dishes.
The dried fish and some of the dried seaweed helped make flavourful stock. The fresh seafood became dinner; and some of the soft light-tasting seaweed was made into a refreshing dessert soup.
He also had the staff prepare some sauces that would require some fermentation. Those bottles of maybe-fish-sauce went next to the bottles of soy sauce in the kitchen cupboards.
After Earl Rosewood left, the servants turned burning eyes to the dried seafood, light-tasting seaweed and the bottles of a new sauce.
The stocks had such a surprising depth of flavour! Who knew a ‘vegetable’ like that seaweed could be used for a dessert? And knowing the Earl’s track record in creating delicious sauces, they were sure the latest sauce would also taste great once it was done!
“It’s really unexpected,” a servant said. “Not only is the Earl generous, but we also get to taste so many different and new foods!”
The other servants nodded in agreement. Hehe, which other servants from another noble family could say that?
Servants for other noble families: Are you pitying us or despising us??
Other nobles: Why do we suddenly feel despised???
Another quick thank you to people who supported me on ko-fi or tapas ink recently! Trin, Sealunis, and Tran <3
The final story may or may not be 100 chapters long u_u